The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced significant changes to its voting process. From now on, all nominated films in each category must be watched by Oscar voters to be eligible to vote in the final round. This new rule aims to ensure that members are aware of and engaged with all nominees.
Additionally, the academy has introduced regulations on issues such as artificial intelligence (AI) use in filmmaking and representation for refugee or asylum-seeking filmmakers. In international film categories, the academy will now allow filmmakers with refugee or asylum status to be represented by a country other than their own.
This change aims to address concerns about the submission process being controlled by governments rather than the academy. The rule also applies to films that have not been submitted through the usual channels and allows for greater representation of dissident filmmakers from authoritarian regimes.
The use of generative AI tools in filmmaking is now explicitly recognized as neither beneficial nor detrimental to nomination chances. Instead, the focus will be on human creative authorship and achievement.
New rules also apply to the casting category, which was recently introduced. Members of the casting branch will participate in a “bake-off” presentation from shortlisted films, followed by a Q&A session with nominees.
The changes take effect immediately, with next year’s Academy Awards scheduled for March 15, 2026, hosted by Conan O’Brien.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/oscars-rule-changes-academy-awards-477d12f8be9967ac956579919f91b736